


Last Christmas postlude

by asarahworld



Series: The Doctor and Rose Tyler [52]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: 2014 Xmas Last Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 07:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16929198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld
Summary: Again with the ambiguous ending!  Also, I think I focused more on Clara here than the Doctor, and Rose is unconscious the whole time.  Why she is sleeping, I do not know, except I needed her not conscious so that the Doctor could run his gob.  Happy December!





	Last Christmas postlude

“Well, look at you, all happy. That's rare.” Clara comments.

“Do you know what's rarer? Second chances. I never get a second chance, so what happened this time? Don't even know who to thank.” It’s a lie, of course. He thinks of the second chance he got, so real that it was its own person.

They enter the TARDIS, not noticing the tangerine that had appeared on Clara’s windowsill. The ship dematerializes with her usual wheezing, taking her time to enter the vortex. The Doctor frowns, pulling levers in a futile attempt to speed things up.

“Is everything all right?”

“She’s being obstinate,” the Doctor continues to fiddle with the console. “Doesn’t want to take flight, as it were.”

“Why?” Clara walks around the room. “Think it has anything to do with that?” She jerks her head towards something round the console and the Doctor sees something (some one) materializing. “Thought you said nothing could get in here.” As brave and reckless as she is, something trembles in her voice. Fear. Clara Oswald is scared.

There’s a note on the console. Had the elves fix her up a bit. Happy Easter. The Doctor’s eyes narrow in confusion. Santa had been part of the dreams. He wasn’t (couldn’t be) real. There’s a postscript as well – she showed me.

“Clara.” His voice is tense. “Clara, this is still a dream.”

“How do you know?” She believes him instantly, of course she does, but there’s still something in her voice undermining his conviction.

“Because this isn’t possible.” He catches the woman as she fades into existence, stroking the blonde hair from her face. His actions are soft, tender; as Clara watches them, she is reminded of how very real dream!Danny had appeared.

The Doctor grunts in pain, raising his free hand to his stinging cheek.

“Pain wasn’t an indicator of dreaming, Clara,” he says indignantly.

“No one else is here. You can’t possibly expect me to believe that the two of us dreamt everyone we met into existence.”

She had a point. The others had been real people, also afflicted by the dream crabs. And yet, she was also here.

“Who is she?” Clara must be getting to know this new face of his. She sees the recognition cross his face, the deep emotions he still feels for…. Her.

The Doctor is busy, checking her over. There’s no clear reason for her to be unconscious. He picks her up, cradling her still form to his breast, and heads for the infirmary.

“Doctor,” Clara says, her voice a clear warning. Tell her what is happening. Tell her how the strange woman was able to enter the TARDIS, why he’s taking care of her instead of interrogating.

He can’t be the soldier when she’s around. She makes him better.

She makes him want to be better.

He shakes his head at Clara, entering the infirmary in silence. He runs every test he can think of. She’s not unconscious, merely asleep (and stirring). She’s real. She’s human.   
She’s Rose Tyler, and she is in his TARDIS.

“Doctor, was she what you thought of when Santa asked what you wanted for Christmas?” Clara’s question is redundant – there was no possible way for a dream to cross the multiverse. He nods, briefly, anyway.

Only now that she’s laying in front of him on the table does he fully look at her. Of course. She’s dimension-hopping. Blue leather jacket and yellow dimension cannon. He tries to quash the jealousy rising within himself – she would spend the rest of her life with him, and he with her. Only… not this him.

A tangerine appears beside her.

“I’ll leave you alone.” As Clara leaves, she again thinks of dream!Danny. Five minutes, he’d said. Shaking her head slightly, she smiles. After all, his only stipulation had been that could be the only time she was allowed to miss him. She could always remember.

**Author's Note:**

> Again with the ambiguous ending! Also, I think I focused more on Clara here than the Doctor, and Rose is unconscious the whole time. Why she is sleeping, I do not know, except I needed her not conscious so that the Doctor could run his gob. Happy December!


End file.
